For Teachers
Why Complete Course Audit?
Your course must be authorized by the AP Program in order to call it an AP course. The only way to do that is through the AP Course Audit.
The process is designed to confirm teacher awareness of course scope and occasional exam changes, and to ensure that practice exams and other resources are only accessible to teachers verified by a school administrator. Once your course is authorized, you will have access to practice exams and other resources (e.g., formative assessments and the AP Question Bank) that are reserved for AP teacher usage.
And your course will be included in the AP Course Ledger—the official list of all AP courses—so colleges and universities can verify what they see on student transcripts.
How to Begin
Your AP Course Audit tasks are completed online. You’ll have to sign in to, or create, your AP Course Audit account and follow the steps below.
If you are teaching an AP course for the first time:
- Fill out and submit the subject-specific AP Course Audit form online. A school administrator must approve and finalize this form before we start reviewing your course.
- Submit documentation showing your understanding of course scope.
- Do you want to adopt an approved course plan or syllabus? Choose Adopt Sample Syllabus or Unit Guides. AP Computer Science Principles teachers also have the option to adopt one of the endorsed provider syllabi.
- Are you submitting an original syllabus? Choose Submit New or Revised Syllabus. (See your specific course page for help creating a syllabus.)
- Are you using a colleague’s already authorized syllabus? Choose Claim Identical. You’ll need to get the syllabus ID number from your colleague or administrator and also submit an exact copy of the authorized syllabus.
That’s all. If you’re demonstrating awareness of course scope and any exam changes by adopting a pre-approved course plan or syllabus, we’ll confirm your course authorization within two weeks. If you’re submitting an original syllabus, we’ll let you know whether your course is authorized within 60 days after you submit the materials.
If you are teaching a previously authorized AP course:
- Nothing’s changed? You don’t need to do anything, but your administrator must renew your course every year. Check the AP Course Audit calendar to see when they can start renewing courses.
- Have you changed schools? You can transfer your syllabus to your new school if you’ll be teaching the same course. You’ll first need to fill out a new AP Course Audit form, and your administrator will have to approve it. Then, choose Transfer Approved to enact the syllabus transfer to your new school.
Once authorized, you’ll receive:
- Access to AP Classroom (practice exams, formative assessments, etc.) in July
- Inclusion in the AP Course Ledger published in November
- Access to online score reports in July of the next year
- Access to the authorized AP Course Logo (within the Secure Documents and Resources area of AP Course Audit)
Download the AP Course Audit User Guide for detailed instructions on participating in the course audit.
Using the Secure Practice Exams
Once your administrator approves your AP Course Audit form, you’ll be able to access free, downloadable AP Practice Exams (for all courses except AP 2-D Art and Design, AP 3-D Art and Design, and AP Drawing). These complete AP Exams are only available to teachers; students can’t access them. These practice exams are also available, along with other released questions, in the AP Question Bank.
To get them, sign in to your AP Course Audit account and click on the Secure Documents link within the Resource section.
AP Practice Exams are for in-classroom use only. To ensure their integrity, please keep them in a secure location and collect them from your students after administering them in class. Do not use AP Practice Exams as take-home assignments or post them on school or other websites.
You may incorporate questions from the AP Practice Exam into shorter assessments you create, as long as your assessments are paper-based, administered in your classroom, and you collect the test questions from the students as soon as the test is over.
Any additional distribution of the AP Practice Exam violates College Board copyright policies and may result in the termination of exam access for your school as well as access to other online services, such as AP Classroom and online score reports.